Tajikistan: Social Media Backlash Against Judges’ Censorship Rulings

The judiciary in Tajikistan has recently attracted more than its usual share of criticism from the country’s social media users. Two recent high-profile cases brought before the courts in Dushanbe, the country’s capital, have been widely discussed in blogs and on news forums. The first case concerns a suit filed last November by the capital’s mayor against Muhiddin Kabiri, an MP and head of Tajikistan’s Islamic Revival Party (IRPT). The suit demanded that Kabiri apologize for his criticism of the massive felling of trees in Dushanbe. Yesterday, the court ruled [ru] that Kabiri should offer the mayor’s office a public apology.

Among many other comments provoked by the news about the court ruling, Nazar wrote [ru] on the News.tj website:

Dear Kabiri, now you get a sense of how our judicial system works. You are an MP, and yet you have had an unpleasant encounter with this system. As for ordinary citizens, we encounter these courts every day!

A mosaic of Themis, the Hellenic goddess of justice, at the Tajik Constitutional Court in Dushanbe. Photo by Alexander Sodiqov (2011).

How stupid is that?! Should he [Kabiri], as head of an opposition party, disregard Dushanbe’s environmental problems and kiss the mayor’s hands?! Who has the right to criticize the government if an opposition politician doesn’t have it? Who has the right to speak on behalf of the people about the activities of executive bodies if an MP does not have such a right?

I feel desperate after having read the news. [I feel desperate] because our judiciary is totally dependent on the executive branch; they make rulings that are as unjustified as they can possibly be.

The second controversial case concerns a court suit filed yesterday by Rustam Khukumov, the son of a powerful Tajik official who happens to be a close relative of the country’s president. Khukumov asks [ru] the court to ‘protect his dignity and reputation’ which was allegedly damaged by Dushanbe-based newspaper ImruzNews. The newspaper has apparently angered Khukumov by asking why exactly the powerful official’s son was released from a Russian prison less than a year after being sentenced to almost ten years for narcotics smuggling. In his suit, Khukumov demands that the newspaper pay him 50,000 somoni (roughly $10,000) in ‘moral damages’, and that the hearing is held ‘behind closed doors’.

Listen up, Rustam! Are you a man anyway? You were in prison, journalists reported about it. What is wrong with it? What kind of ‘moral damages’ are you talking about? And the fact that you, the son of a Tajik public servant, were caught smuggling narcotics to Russia – doesn’t it damage the dignity and reputation of the government or the Tajik people?! Maybe we should also take you to court for bringing shame on the country’s people?

As for the suit, I think the court will rule in [Khukumov's] favor, because I can see what is going on in the country’s judicial system. The suit has been filed by the son of a Tajik official, not an ordinary guy! Even if he is a [former] narcotics smuggler who was put in jail – he is still the ‘boss’s son’. ImruzNews will have to pay!

Hardly anyone doubts that the court will rule in Khukumov’s favor, obliging ImruzNews to pay the 50,000 somoni fine. This is what our judicial system is like. It is corrupt throughout. In cases which even indirectly touch upon the interests of political elites, judges rule as they are ordered to. In lower profile cases, rulings are determined by money [offered as bribes]. The judges are easy to sell and buy. This is not a secret to anyone. Therefore, our judges are similar to contracted employees, or even prostitutes – they satisfy all wants of their clients for an appropriate payment.

Don’t be too harsh on the judges; they are human beings like you and me. They have to make a living and keep bread on the family table. They do this in a manner tolerated by the state. Therefore, they don’t want to end up being on bad terms with the elites, endangering their careers, and depriving their own children of bread by [standing up for] Kabiri or a newspaper. We live in a feudal state, and the rules we live by are feudal as well.